Page 44 - Gi flipbook April 2018

IGEM NEWS | Message from CEO

FAREWELL SARB urgency damages business confidence
and ensures that investment is fragile
and narrows choices for the future.
Coupled to this, the scale of the
engineering challenge is massive and
As IGEM CEO Sarb Bajwa leaves the Institution for a solutions point to a very different
new role, he bids goodbye and looks back over his four energy landscape, with very different
years at the helm business models in the future.
Whether by misfortune or design, we
do indeed live in interesting times.
Throughout the industry, there is a Through the gloom, there are chinks
sense of pride and satisfaction that of light. The industry has become
everyone who works within it is more open and is starting to engage
delivering a public good. This sense of with other industries. If we are to
civic-mindedness is to be applauded, address this central challenge of our
encouraged and valued. My initial age, the gas industry in particular
perception was of an old industry, needs to demonstrate how it can
steeped in tradition and cloaked in combat climate change. We are not
history – almost, dare I say it, a the problem, but the solution.
socialist industry. We all reaped the This shift in mindset has resulted in
rewards thanks to the gasmen! a wave of innovation as the industry
Confucius once said: “May you live seeks to deliver low carbon energy,
in interesting times”. In its original integrate the gas networks with other
interpretation, this idiom was thought energy vectors and utilise data to
of as a compliment. It is not. The improve performance. This has
industry faces challenges on several brought new actors and stakeholders
fronts, at multiple levels, with into the ambit of the industry, along
differing degrees of severity. with new opportunities and new
At a human level, there is the visions for the future.
challenge of recruiting new entrants, a My challenge to all IGEM members
shortage that reflects the national and the wider industry is to be bold
picture, but markedly so for ours. and imaginative. The industry needs
At a policy level, there seems to be to recapture the sense of dynamism
inertia; an overall integrated energy and excitement that followed the
policy is urgently needed, but seems original conversion to gas and
unlikely to be forthcoming. rediscover the unity of purpose that
Specifically, for gas, the policy allowed it to thrive.
landscape has remained challenging. IGEM itself needs to shout more
There have been multiple threats to about what we have done and what
its very existence and, though this has we are doing in order to gain the
ear members, colleagues receded, as the practical and recognition we deserve. A lot of our
and friends, economic impacts of electrifying heat work goes on behind the scenes,
I wanted to write a become apparent, the notion of gas as bringing industry, policy makers and
farewell piece sharing my a transition fuel begs the question – a academia together. We have seen a
D thoughts and views from transition to what? change in attitudes to both IGEM and
the last four years representing IGEM Nationally, we are committed to the gas industry from those who can
and by extension, you. meeting climate change targets influence future energy policy
On arriving at IGEM, I was enshrined in law. Customers are, by decisions. Our strength is in our
immediately faced with the challenge of and large, oblivious to what this members and the engineering
having to master a new language, means for them in their day-to-day excellence we have in our industry.
culture and mindset, especially as lives. Indeed, the way we live our lives IGEM must continue to adapt and
someone from outside the gas industry. means changing patterns of energy change with the needs of our
So, imagine my surprise when I first supply and demand, not to mention members and the industry as a whole.
heard mention of intelligent pigging the impact of the predicted nine Together, we need to construct a
– not some advanced leap in animal million electric vehicles to hit the narrative that not only shows the
husbandry but, much to my great roads by 2030. way forward for us as an industry,
disappointment, an advanced Within the broader energy but also emphasises how critical we
inspection technique. landscape, the regulatory and are to people and their lives. So, as I
Similarly, on my arrival, I met institutional architecture for energy prepare to leave the industry, I have
many members and colleagues who lends to the path of least resistance, hope and a sense, albeit nascent, that
looked back with sepia-tinted resulting in entrenched views, a silo the industry is embracing change. For
glasses to the heyday of British Gas. mentality and a persistence to too long we have snatched defeat
Indeed, some still longed for a return operate in isolation. from the jaws of victory, and it is
to those halcyon days. Finally, the lack of certainty and time to reverse that. ■

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